- Mar 13, 2021
- 5,397
- 9,610
Just a few observations:Happy new year, everyone. I was hoping the holiday would let me finish my review a lot faster this time, but it's proven to be a difficult one to write. I did not enjoy the update on my first playthrough. I'm still lukewarm on it overall, and it's been hard articulating why. I think at least half my disappointment rests squarely on me and my own expectations. I have... eclectic tastes and this update didn't suit them. That's a little unfair to hold against the update, but it's not like I could review this from someone else's point of view. So before we go any farther, take everything I say here with an industrial-strength grain of salt.
There's a huge amount of stuff in this update, including plenty of tender and/or romantic moments right up my alley, and it's all pretty high quality, at least in a vacuum. I believe my issue stems from the moments that most hold my interest not meshing as well as I would like with the other content around them. That is exacerbated by some structural problems in the way the update is layout out. My initial playthrough of Rosalind's dinner, for example, was surprisingly boring because interesting developments are concealed unless you've made the right choices, rather than being integrated into *making* those choices. The massive extravaganza with all the girls didn't click with me to the point it felt almost like padding, while the dramatic end of the update *over*achieved to such a degree I don't think it realized its own strength. And on top of all that, the new UI irked me by being both less legible and more generic.
In short, this update managed to wrong-foot my expectations with almost surgical precision right up until the finale. On the plus side, that finale was pretty fucking AWESOME!, so it's not like this was anywhere close to being a bad update. But getting to that end was slog (at least for me), and if I'm being honest I'm a little worried that Chapter 4 Update 6 is not all that well positioned to follow up on what I liked. That certainly has me nervous, even if I am still looking forward to the end of Chapter 4.
But enough generalities. We really need to get into the weeds on this one.
You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.Okay, I think that wraps up my thoughts. Sorry for the length, to say nothing of how subjective they are. I don't think my viewpoint is the best one to judge this update, but I hope it can be of use. I still want more of the game, and I want it to be the best game it can possibly be!You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.
tl;dr A massive update focused heavily on aspects of the game I'm less interested in, as well as some structural issues that weakened parts nearer to my heart. The ending was *very* strong, but I am a little nervous about how well the next update can follow up on it.
- Nicolette is "on loan" as much as Andrea (from Otto, August's fellow gangster);
- what happened to Victoria in this update is so important to me that right now I couldn't care less about the upcoming exhibition night: I should ask myself whether Elias told Felicia the truth and he's going to Tokyo or he's attending the exhibition, but the truth is that I don't care because the only thing I wanna know is what Vic is going to tell Edwin and Ian next morning;
- I agree with you about Vic's secret - it's the movies.
Oh, and remember, guys: this is a tale of motherly love:
Just let me tell you that I'm not so "underwhelmed" as our ename144 fellow.As always, I appreciate you taking the time and effort to a write a colossal send up. I never feel like an update is behind us until your analysis of it. That is how highly I think of your feedback. I wish I could say it was as fun to read as usual, but it's all the more worthwhile that it was not.
It will take a few rereads before I fully digest the bulk of it, but you've given me a lot to think about in the postmortem. You actually touched on a few concerns I had but brushed aside in favor of inertia, as well as some stuff I hadn't even considered. There's honestly a lot I agree with there, plus likely a tad more on top of that once the sting of criticism lessens and I can more honestly internalize it.
And even the stuff I don't agree with, reconciling why hones one's perspective. Thanks a ton, ename.
I think that the main problem is that we often perceive updates as "chapters" instead of them being just a step forward in the storyline progression (like in this case): this is part 5 of chapter 4 (not the whole chapter), after all.
So, I think that if anyone re-played the whole game from the start instead of playing the latest update only, he/she would appreciate it more.
That's my advice for everybody: after you played the update, just replay the whole game once at least. We have quite a few months ahead, after all.
Anyway, just a question for you Authors: are you considering the possibility of splitting the release of the next update in two halves (therefore 2 updates) - let's say: first half release covering saturday morning and afternoon until the exhibition starts; second half release covering the ehxibition and aftermath night?
I'm telling this because I have the feeling that the next update is going to be even bigger (with a development time even longer than the latest) than this latest update.
Just my 2 cents, of course.
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